February 09, 2013 07:21 PM CSTFebruary 10, 2013 05:16 AM CSTRangers could lean on young quartet of quality starters to carry them into October

Rangers could lean on young quartet of quality starters to carry them into October

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Jack White/Staff Photographer

LHP Derek Holland / Age: 26 / Experience: 3 years, 120 days / 2012: 12-7, 4.67 ERA, 145 K, 52 BB / Contract status: $3.2 million in 2013; signed through 2016 / In a nutshell: He took a significant step backwards in 2012, following a dominant performance in the second half of 2011. Part of that may have been due to a long bout with a stomach virus that led to a month-long stint on the DL in June. What should be encouraging: Back to full strength, he went 5-0 with a 3.88 ERA over his final 10 starts. Holland must present a more serious approach to pitching and show the Rangers he is durable enough for a 200-inning season.

The Texas Rangers go to spring training this week, and if tossing baseballs around on Valentine’s Day seems awfully early, well, general manager Jon Daniels says that’s not a bad thing.

“It’s not exactly a bad year to have a long spring training,” Daniels said.

In other words, these Rangers aren’t just showing up in Surprise, Ariz., to turn in their American League ring sizes. There is work to be done.

For the first time since 2010, the Rangers are not defending AL champions. They didn’t get anywhere near the World Series last year with their one-and-done showing against Baltimore, and they aren’t the trendy pick to get there this October. That “honor” goes to the Toronto Blue Jays after they cleaned out the Miami garage sale before anyone else knew the Marlins had opened the doors.

In their own division, the Rangers are seen as contenders but not favorites. That privilege goes to the team with Josh Hamilton and C.J. Wilson, just to name a couple of World Series familiar faces. All of this is fine with Daniels, who knows that being picked to win and actually accomplishing anything are two different things in the baseball world.

“I’m not sure how many people last year were talking about how well San Francisco and Oakland and Baltimore had done in the off-season,” Daniels said. “I like our team top to bottom. We’re not running and hiding.”

Should you like the Rangers as much as Daniels does?

I think the long-term answer is yes because the strength of this organization is where you want it to be in baseball and where it’s never been before in Texas. The Rangers should have good — and, with only a minimal amount of luck, very good — starting pitching for years to come.

The club recently signed 18-game winner Matt Harrison to a five-year deal. Yu Darvish, coming off an impressive rookie season, figures only to get much better. He also has five years left on his deal. Harrison and Darvish were American League All-Stars in 2012. Alexi Ogando, who made the All-Star team in 2011 as a starter, returns to that role this year and is under club control for four more years.

Derek Holland, a 16-game winner in 2011, also has four years left plus club options for two more.

An embarrassment of riches? No, you wouldn’t quite call it that.

“We’re not the ’90s Braves,” Daniels said. “But after years of hearing, ‘When are you going to get some pitching?’ I think we can say that we’ve got pretty good starting pitching. They’re all in their 20s, and they’ve all got potential to improve.”

For years, the Rangers relied almost solely on their bats. Heck, they even made their first playoff trips in the ’90s with that philosophy in mind. Or did you think Rick Helling, Aaron Sele and Esteban Loaiza were the backbone of those teams?

Now the Rangers are in the awkward position of wondering if they have enough offense. They should still rank in the top five in runs scored, based in part because they play home games in what is generally the most favorable hitters park in the league. But with Hamilton, Mike Napoli and Michael Young gone and Nelson Cruz’s status in limbo following the recent story about performance-enhancing drugs in a Miami clinic, this team will certainly not be as powerful as it has been.

As long as they have a lineup full of 20-home run hitters, give me that and strong starting pitching any day.

This team made a mistake with Ogando after his relief work was instrumental in beating Detroit in the 2011 ALCS, leaving him in that bullpen role for 2012. He has the stuff to be a starter and belongs in Ron Washington’s rotation.

Holland may be something of a wild card in this foursome, but remember how you felt about him at the end of 2011, wishing he had been on the mound for Game 7 in St. Louis instead of Harrison.

And Daniels believes Darvish, who deservedly got the team’s only playoff start last year, is just starting to figure out what he can do here.

“As he gets settled in, he can carry a higher load, be more consistent,” Daniels said. “He’s just going to be 26 this season.”

The club has seven weeks to figure out bullpen roles, outfield platoons and spots on Washington’s lineup card. The starting rotation is 80 percent settled with plenty of candidates to battle for the fifth spot before Colby Lewis’ midseason return.

The Rangers aren’t the darlings they were a year or two ago. But the surest way to reclaim what they may have lost is through strong starting pitching, and they have a supply of that for years to come.

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About Tim Cowlishaw

Tim Cowlishaw has been The Dallas Morning News' lead sports columnist since July 1998. Prior to that he covered the Cowboys for six seasons and the Stars for three as a beat reporter. He also covered the Rangers as a backup beat writer and was the San Jose Mercury News' beat writer on the San Francisco Giants in the late 1980s.

Tim has been appearing regularly on ESPN"s "Around the Horn" since the show made its debut in November 2002. He also worked with ESPN as part of the network's "NASCAR Now" coverage in 2007-08.

Favorite Dallas restaurants: Park, Nick and Sam's, Kenichi.

Worst sports prediction: His first in college ... that Earl Campbell had no shot at the Heisman Trophy.

Best sports memories: Seeing the Dallas Stars hoist the Stanley Cup long after midnight in Buffalo, watching the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl and Texas win the national title in perfect Rose Bowl settings.